We were really excited to be starting up the Dempster Highway again. We didn’t have the nervous excitment like we had when we drove it for the first time six years ago, not knowing what to expect and only going on advice from people online. But the fact that we were able to get back up here to drive it for a second time was fun for us and we were ready for another adventure.
The Dempster Highway, also known as Yukon Highway 5 and Northwest Territories 8, connects the Klondike Highway in Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories. Year-round road access from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk opened in November 2017 with the completion of the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway. This became the first all-weather road route connecting the Canadian road network with the Arctic Ocean.
We stayed at a very uneventful spot on the Dempster Highway just 20 miles north. We had gotten our chores done in town and decided to head up late in the day since there are a ton of places to camp.
Monday we made a quick stop at the Tombstone Interpretive Centre and then headed on our way. It was really cool to see all the different rigs traveling this road. We saw everything from cars, trucks and semis to huge overlanding rigs, trucks pulling triple axle trailers and motorhomes with toads. Six years ago it was the normal local traffic and trucks with truck campers. It is definitely more popular and well traveled today.
It started raining pretty quickly and the truck would be muddy for the rest of the trip. The road was not really that bad although we did slow down significantly through a section that was wet and squishy. We passed a couple of graders a few different times. It was so nice that they were working hard to keep the road in good condition. As tourists, we are very aware that this road is important for the local people and is not just for our adventures. Many semi trucks and work trucks use this road and we were always sure to get out of their way so they didn’t have to worry about getting over for us.
We had let a semi pass us and then came upon him on the side of the road pulling a biker with a tow strap. There were 4 guys on motorcyles and one had gotten over a bit too far. The sides of the highway are extremely soft and pretty dangerous if you get over too far and one of them went down on his side in the soft shoulder. We pulled up behind and Craig got out to offer some help. Thankfully, they already had the biker out and upright and everyone had a good chuckle and we found out they were staying at Eagle Plains.
We decided we would stay there too. We sat at the bar and were happy to see our biker friend come in and chatted with him for a bit. We found a spot to camp and listened to it pour! But hot showers in the morning were awesome! We got gas here in the morning. It was the most expensive gas on this trip at $6.79 a gallon USD.
We continued on, enjoying the beautiful changing scenery. Sometimes we remembered sections of it, some of it we didn’t. We drove through more rain, sunshine and then it was raining while the sun shined. It was pretty wild and beautiful. We got to the Arctic Circle and were happy to have it to ourselves. We took the obligitory pictures and put a sticker on the post along with many others. We didn’t have stickers in 2018 so it’s been fun leaving some behind.
The section of the road north of the Arctic Circle is known to have black shale like gravel and if you go too fast and/or don’t air down, you will get a flat. We had already aired down and we were in no hurry. So this section went just fine and we ended up completing the entire trip witout a flat!
There are two ferry crossings on the Dempster, one at the Peel River and one at the MacKenzie River. We timed both pretty well and didn’t have to wait long at all. They are short ferries anyway but it’s always nice to drive right on. We had to get gas in Fort McPherson and we wanted to go to the Tent & Canvas store in town.
We arrived after hours so we camped at a free campground right in town. It’s nice they offer these spots although it’s not exactly our cup of tea. The neighbors are close and the porta-potties were not in great condition. But it worked for a night. We fueled up in the morning and grabbed a cute canvas bag from the store.
We made our way to Inuvik, which is the only major town up here. We grabbed some supplies and gas and decided to continue north. There were a couple of boondocking spots on iOverlander that we checked out but it wasn’t super late and the one closest to town was the locals snow machine parking lot. We could’ve stayed there but decided to push on and got to Tuktoyaktuk before the Visitor Center closed.
We paid $63 CAD for 2 nights of dry camping on the Artic Ocean. We figured why not pour into this community and spend a little cash. You definitely pay for the view. The camp sites are close together, the porta-johns weren’t in the greatest condition and people really just park wherever they want but it was still totally worth it and we would do it again.
When we drove it in 2018, we had no idea what to expect and the Inuvialuit hamlet didn’t know what to do with all of the tourists that descended upon their small town. Back then, we all camped out for free on the day use peninsula. The locals would come down and say hi and some would walk around selling their crafts. We had talked with a local and he said that they were definitely not ready for the amount of visitors that had already been there.
Fast forward six years and they have designated camp spots along the Arctic Ocean for $31.50 CAD for dry camping, $63 CAD with power. The tip of the peninsula is now blocked off so everyone can still enjoy the day use area. At the visitor’s center they offered a pamphlet that had a map of the town and showed where you can buy souveniers, hike to the pingos and places to grab food.
Our timing has been a little off with the weather. We tried to avoid rain on the way up, we didn’t. We thought the temps would be pleasant but it was chilly. It had been in the 80s the week before we arrived but it was 47 degrees on Wednesday. Thankfully it wasn’t raining so we were able to walk all around town and even had a little sunshine. We walked to the point and I just put my hand in the water this time. I had dunked my toe in with Gus in 2018 and just didn’t feel the need to do it again.
Unfortunately, the souvenier shop was closed and the other stores that were listed as having souveniers didn’t have much. We made our way to the RCMP office where I bought a sweatshirt and chatted with the officer about life up in Tuk. She had studied forensics in University and had been stationed in Tuk for 6 months. She said they pretty much hold down the fort unless something major happens.
We hung out in the camper after doing all the things in town we wanted to do. We opted not to sit outside because the mosquitos were still pretty ferocious and we had a great view from our comfy chairs. Around 9 pm the sky cleared and it was bright and sunny and was almost getting warm as the sun came into our camper.
We decided we wanted to stay up for sunset. We were here on Summer Solstice in 2018 when the sun never set. But now, more than a month after Solstice it was going to set at 1:20 am. We have found if we leave the camper windows uncovered and let the light in, we don’t get tired. It’s a little crazy because sometimes we are just drinking a beer and reading or on our phones and all of a sudden it’s super late. It’s been kind of cool to just listen to your body and go to bed when you need to go to bed, not because of the time on the clock.
We took photos for a couple hours as the sun slowly set and it was cool to see others out and about enjoying this absolutely beautiful view. Honestly, we said it looked like a sunset over Lake Michigan, but just to know we were watching a sunset over the Arctic Ocean just gave us all the feels.
We were ready to hit the road on Thursday. On our way out of town, we took a picture by the Arctic Ocean sign and put our sticker on the back of that sign as well. It’s pretty cool to see all the stickers. So many people have ventured up here for this amazing adventure!
We were so glad to the see that the souvenier shop was open and enjoyed talking with the owner. He runs his store on consignment and everything in the store was made by a Tuk local. This was exactly the store we wanted to find. Craig had wanted an ulu knife since the last time we were up here but we never connected with anyone making them.
He found an ulu with a caribou handle and steel blade. The shop owner said this artist’s ulus sell really fast so we considered ourselves lucky to get our hands on one.
So with that, our time in Tuktoyaktuk was done. We enjoyed this experience so much. Our first time up was obviously different but this time it was neat to see that tourists come in and seem to add to the community instead of take away from it. We enjoyed the views and our laid back time there.
We started the long trek south. We were feeling pretty good and decided to drive a little longer. We made a quick stop in Inuvik for gas, did the Peel River ferry crossing, got gas in Fort McPherson and also did the MacKenzie river crossing. We found a spot to boondock off the road and called it a night.
The rest of the trip back was pretty uneventful. Our weather app said there was like a 4% chance of rain, well of course we got rained on! We had to stop again at Eagle Plains for expensive gas. Our truck was a disaster!
We decided to stop short of the end after another long day. We tucked into a decent spot next to a small creek.
The next morning was actually sunny and we were excited to get back into Dawson City. We were 20 miles from the end of the Dempster when we passed a work truck that chucked a rock into the lower passenger side windshield. UGH!!! It hit really low and there are only 2 smalls cracks starting but we were so mad! We went 1100 miles with no flats or other issues. We were so close! Oh well, we’ll deal with that another day.
We drove straight to the car wash and only spent $12 CAD. I thought it was going to be way more expensive than that considering how much mud we collected. We filled up on water and then headed to the public pool where we paid $6.50 CAD each for a pass for use of the hot showers.
It was a beautiful sunny day so we wandered around town and grabbed a few more souveniers. We had lunch at Sourdough Joe’s and grabbed an ice cream cone. We passed a small flea market and chatted with a local who was selling items out of her 1964 Mercury schoolbus! I had my hands full with my ice cream cone and the little purse I wanted to buy so I didn’t get a picture but it was a pretty cool. It was a fun day!
We are going to head south and east. Craig has a few fun roads in mind for us to go check out but we don’t really know what to expect. We drove about 60 miles east of Dawson City and found a beautiful spot on Gravel Lake
When we arrived, there was a gentleman taking pics of his bicycle by the water. He was from Germany and has been riding his bike all over the place. Tuktoyaktuk is his next destination. We saw many people riding their bicycles on the Dempster and man, we give them so much credit. Not only does the elevation change like crazy but the road can be soft and the dust from cars and trucks blasting by is brutal. We filled up his water bottle, wished him luck and he was on his way.
We are excited for the next month since it’ll be roads we have never traveled. It’s fun to revisit places but we really love to see new roads!
Off to explore Yukon some more…